Skipping The Hard Part

Trust is not a “soft skill” that is optional if you want a functioning team.

Real trust among teams lays a foundation to better overall team health. It sets the stage for better communication, diverse conversations, creativity, and productivity, but it doesn’t come easy.

Here’s where I think many leaders get stuck. 

Imagine this call.

Client: “I’d like our team to work better together and stop shutting down. It seems like communication is at an all time low. We can’t get anything done and are at each other’s throats. I’m afraid they are going to breakdown”

Me: “We would need to start with helping the team get an understanding of the breakdown in trust and what psychological safety in teams looks like in order to rebuild a solid foundation so they can get out of their own way”

Them: “Great, we have an hour set aside at our offsite in April” 

Me: Crickets…….

This conversation is common not because people are not smart or don’t understand the importance of trust in teams. This is common because many don’t realize the true state of their teams, the complexity of trust, and the time required to break down barriers, and rebuild. You can’t ask your team to define trust, understand the implications of lack of trust, the benefits to building it, and how to participate in systems that encourage psychological safety in one hour.

What you can do is understand it yourself so you can begin to influence your team to see the importance of it.

Ready to start fresh with your team and rebuild? Let's chat.
 

-Jen